INDIANAPOLIS – An Indianapolis emergency room doctor who was walking on a sidewalk died after a vehicle veered off the road and hit him, police say.
The incident happened around 5 p.m. Thursday at West 49th Street and North Meridian Street, where police had been called to the scene of a reported crash.
Police said the driver of a GMC Acadia was going east on 49th Street when the SUV crossed into the west lane, drove over a curb on the north side of the street and went onto the sidewalk. The driver’s side mirror clipped a utility pole; the SUV continued on the sidewalk and hit a man.
The Acadia slammed into another utility pole, police said, and came to a stop after hitting a blue Ford sedan that had been going west on 49th Street. The Ford had stopped just before the collision.
The man who was struck was an emergency room physician for Franciscan Health, officials with the hospital system confirmed. He suffered “grave” injuries and died at an area hospital.
Franciscan Health identified the victim as Dr. Brian Dillman and released the following statement:
Franciscan Health is devastated to learn of the unexpected, tragic death of Dr. Brian Dillman. A member of Emergency Physicians of Indianapolis, he was a tireless professional and deeply dedicated to the patients for whom he cared for at our Indianapolis Emergency Department and former Beech Grove hospital for 20 years.
Franciscan mourns Dr. Dillman’s passing, and our prayers, thoughts and condolences go out to his family, friends and colleagues.
Dr. Dillman was also an employee of Eli Lilly, having joined the company in 2013. Eli Lilly released the following statement in response to his death:
We are deeply saddened by Brian’s tragic death and offer our heartfelt condolences to his family.
John Patterson worked closely with Dillman for the past three years at Eli Lilly.
“There’s some individuals that you work with and then there’s some people that you just absolutely love working with,” Patterson said. “He was one of those individuals.”
Patterson said on top of his full-time job at Eli Lilly, Dillman worked weekends in the ER at Franciscan health.
“He was always kind and very caring,” Patterson said. “The reason why he continued to do that was because he loved patients.”
The drivers of both vehicles were taken to area hospitals for blood draws, which is standard procedure in deadly crashes.
Dr. Dillman’s family released the following statement about his death:
“We are devastated at the loss of Brian. Our family requests that you please respect our privacy at this time.”